Nearly a dozen people are facing charges in Miami-Dade in connection with a scheme to falsely obtain certificates required to repair building elevators, prosecutors said Thursday.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office said two suspects, Gabriel Alfonso and David Valles-Gomez, would take an online competency exam that's required by the state for elevator mechanics, in exchange for a fee.
Watch NBC6 free wherever you are
WATCH HERE
The tests were taken under the name of another person who then received a Florida Certification of Completion, allowing them to be officially certified by the state for elevator repair, prosecutors said.
Get local news you need to know to start your day with NBC 6's News Headlines newsletter.
SIGN UP
Prosecutors said Alfonso acted as the middleman, collecting a fee ranging between $250 to $400, of which $200 to $300 would go as payment to Valles-Gomez for taking the test.
Most of the mechanics had previously worked on elevators, escalators and moving sidewalks in areas where certification of the type required in Florida was not a requirement, prosecutors said.
But when the scheme was discovered, all work done by the mechanics on Miami-Dade County property was re-inspected by Florida Certified elevator mechanics, officials said.
Local
"The personal safety of every individual in Miami-Dade County must always be a paramount concern. When someone tries to shortcut a public safety requirement or certification, they go out of their way to create an unnecessary risk," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. "This alleged cheating scheme by trained technicians cannot and will not stand."
In addition to Alfonso and Valles-Gomez, prosecutors charged Xael Concepcion-Vargas, Jose Cuevas-Romero, Ramon Fleitas, Marcos Garcia, Hugo Marte, Gabriel Ortiz, Jose Tirado-Blanco and Frederick Williams with charges including organized scheme to defraud and criminal cheating.
